Health Care Overhaul

2010-03-16T13:47:01Z

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of Calif., accompanied by Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., left, gestures during a news conference on saving Medicare as part of the Health Care Overhaul, Tuesday, March 16, 2010, on Capitol Hill in

Sebelius confident health care bill will pass

2010-03-16T16:33:44Z

<div><p>U.S. Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius (seh-BEEL'-yuhs) says she's confident the House will have the votes to pass President Barack Obama's health care legislation — possibly by Friday.</p><p>Sebelius spoke Tuesday in Chicago at a conference on aging.</p><p>Her remarks come as the

Obama expects passage of health care bill

2010-03-15T15:01:08Z

<div><p>President Barack Obama says he expects to get the votes for his health care overhaul, telling ABC News "we're going to make this happen."</p><p>In an interview Monday, the president said Democrats are working to get a bill ready for a vote later this week.</p><p>He said: "I bel...

Health Care 101: A consumer primer on Obama's bill

2010-03-15T14:15:19Z

<div id="subtitle">Health Care 101: If Obama's bill passes, the changes start small and keep getting bigger</div><div><p>It took lawmakers a year to shape President Barack Obama's health care bill. If it finally passes Congress, it'll take the better part of a decade to write the user manual for consumers and doctors, employers and insurance companies.</p><p>Some health insurance consumer protections woul...

Senate-passed health care bill would cut deficit

2010-03-11T07:45:52Z

<div id="subtitle">Gov't auditors say Senate-passed health care bill would cut deficit by $118B over 10 years</div><div><p>Congressional budget referees say Senate legislation that's now the foundation for President Barack Obama's health care plan would cut the federal deficit by $118 billion over 10 years.</p><p>The President Barack Obama joked on Wednesday that half of the 40,000 letters that pour into the White House each day brand him an "idiot."</p><p>Tongue-in-cheek, the president remarked that his staff did not spare him the wrath of his correspondents -- selecting a representative portion of 10 letters for him to read when he returns to the White Hou...

Highlights of Senate jobless aid bill

2010-03-10T15:00:27Z

<div id="subtitle">Highlights of Senate bill extending tax breaks, jobless aid</div><div><p>Highlights of Senate legislation extending unemployment insurance and expired tax breaks:</p><p>_Tax relief: Extends through 2010 a variety of popular tax breaks that expired at the end of 2009, including an individual income tax deduction for sales and property taxes, and a business tax credit for research and development. Extends a variety of energy and alternative fu...

Pharmaceutical group spent $6.3M lobbying in Q4

2010-03-10T13:15:46Z

<div id="subtitle">Pharmaceutical industry group spent $6.3M lobbying in Q4, on health overhaul, other issues</div><div><p>The pharmaceutical industry's main trade group spent $6.3 million in the fourth quarter lobbying Congress, the White House and multiple government agencies on health care provisions and related issues, according to a quarterly disclosure report.</p><p>The President Barack Obama said Tuesday he'll bring in high-tech bounty hunters to help root out health care fraud, grabbing a populist idea with bipartisan backing in his final push to overhaul the system.</p><p>The White House announcement came as...

Should men be tested for prostate cancer?

2010-03-03T13:46:03Z

<div id="subtitle">New advice on prostate cancer screening stresses talking about pros, cons before deciding</div><div><p>The American Cancer Society revised its guidelines for prostate cancer screening on Wednesday. The advocacy group is one of many organizations that make such recommendations. Some questions and answers:</p><p>Q: What's the advice?</p><p>A: The bottom l...

Gov't adopts formula that doubles elderly poor

2010-03-03T05:45:33Z

<div><p>The government took steps Tuesday to highlight the increasing numbers of poor Americans, adopting a revised formula that is expected to double the number of older people classified as living in poverty to nearly 1 in 5.</p><p>Under the new formula, overall poverty is expected to increase from 13.2 percent, or 39.8 million people, to 15.8 percent, or 47.4 million, mostly due to rising expenses from medical care and other factors.</p><p>The new measure w...

Senate gridlock triggers cut to doctors

2010-03-01T14:00:26Z

<div><p>Political gridlock in the Senate triggered a legal requirement Monday for a 21 percent cut in Medicare fees to doctors, who warned they may have to limit care for seniors unless the reductions are reversed.</p><p>Hoping the Senate will act soon to stave off the cuts, the Obama administration directed Medicare billing contractors to hold off processing claims for...

Medicare panel urges insurer payment cuts

2010-03-01T11:15:29Z

<div><p>WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Medicare should cut U.S. government payments to private insurers and home healthcare providers, an advisory panel said in nonbinding recommendations released on Monday.</p><p>The Medicare fees to doctors</div><div><p>Political gridlock in the Senate has triggered a 21 percent cut in Medicare fees to doctors.</p><p>Funding to temporarily stave off the cuts was part of a bill passed by the House last week to extend unemployment benefits and other government programs. But the Senate was unable to act on the one-month fix because

Budget crunch a campaign snare

2010-02-27T02:15:21Z

<div id="subtitle">Candidates for governor face risks by offering, withholding solutions</div><div><p> Being broke is never fun, as Nevadas governor and the men who would replace him can attest.</p><p>Nevadas fiscal crisis leaves few good options, forcing candidates for governor to crank up their creativity:</p><p>Gov. Jim Gibbons, who has staked his political survival on being a champion of the...

Ev3 shares climb on positive stent study results

2010-02-26T13:52:27Z

<div id="subtitle">Shares of stent-maker Ev3 climb on study suggesting devices could replace surgery</div><div><p>Shares of medical device maker ev3 Inc. jumped Friday after results from a new study suggested stents could be used to prevent stroke in hundreds of thousands of new patients.</p><p>The 10-year study found that patients with plaque-filled neck arteries could be treated with stents instead of more inva...

Stroke study finds neck stents safe, effective

2010-02-26T10:15:32Z

<div><p>People at risk of a stroke because of narrowed neck arteries can be safely treated with a less drastic option than the surgery done now, the largest study ever done on these treatments concludes.</p><p>If Medicare agrees to cover it, hundreds of thousands of Americans a year might be able to have an artery-opening procedure and a stent instead of surgery to remove built-up plaque, doctors say. A stent is a wire-mesh ...

Obama, GOP agree on some health areas

2010-02-26T00:46:19Z

<div id="subtitle">Agreements emerge between Republicans, Democrats on health care, but prove elusive</div><div><p>Democrats and Republicans found plenty areas of agreement at President Barack Obama's health care summit, starting with a shared belief that the system needs fixing. When they delved into the details, though, consensus evaporated in many cases.</p><p>The dynamic illustrated the partisan divid...

Bottom line at health summit: lots of smoke

2010-02-25T06:00:20Z

<div id="subtitle">Health care summit may need a judge to sort fact from fiction, slam down gavel</div><div><p>Cue the cameras. President Barack Obama and his Republican arch foes will argue their case on health care overhaul at a bipartisan summit expected to stretch out for a solid six hours on live, daytime television Thursday for millions of Americans.</p><p>Expect them to collide, not come together. ...

Senate could pass a jobs bill this week

2010-02-23T14:31:05Z

<div><p>WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Congressional leaders said on Tuesday they could get a job-creating bill through both houses soon for President Barack Obama to sign into law.</p><p>After weeks of partisan bickering and delays due to a record snowstorm, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said he planned ...

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